1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to skateboards. More particularly, the present invention the relates to skateboards that have bearings for rolling along skateboarding surfaces.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
A skateboard is the primary piece of equipment used in the activity of skateboarding. The exact origins of the first skateboard are unknown, but it is known that skateboarding started in the 1950s. The first skateboards were made by attaching roller-skate wheels to the bottom of wooden boxes or boards. Over the years, the structure of a skateboard and the activity of skateboarding evolved into precisely engineered equipment used by professional skateboarders.
A typical modern skateboard has a deck, two metal trucks secured to the bottom of the deck, and wheels placed on the axles of the trucks. Each skateboard wheel is typically mounted to the axles of the trucks with ball bearings. Various accessories can be included with the modern skateboard, including rails, slip tape, laquer, a nose guard, a tail guard, and angled risers. Modern skateboards can be personalized according to the needs of an individual skateboarder.
Skate parks are now common in many cities. Skateboarding competitions have lead to a dramatic increase of talent and athleticism associated with the skateboarding activity. Professional skateboarders, such as Tony Hawk, enjoy much frame and notoriety for their skateboarding abilities. Skateboarding professionals can also have large incomes due to lucrative deals for winning competitions, obtaining brand sponsorships, and advertising. Various televisions networks regularly televise skateboarding competitions.
Although skateboarding is now a mainstream activity, the technology associated with skateboard components continuously evolves. In particular, skateboarders seek to out-maneuver one another for earning points in competitions. Non-competitive skaters, and the skateboard community as a whole, seek to find new tricks for the skateboard. Thus, there is a need for a skateboard that increases a skateboarder's ability to maneuver on a skateboard so as to invent and perform new tricks for the skateboard community.
A problem associated with typical skateboards is that the skateboards travel in only one direction. That is, there is no lateral movement with the typical skateboard because the wheels of the skateboard are all aligned in the same direction and all rotate in the same direction. Thus, there is a need for a skateboard that allows for a skateboarder to move in any direction.
Another problem associated with typical skateboards is that the surface of contact with the wheels of the skateboard causes friction with the skateboarding surface. As a result, skateboards have limited speed over skateboarding surfaces. Various improvements in the bearings associated with the wheels and other such technologies attempt to reduce the friction associated with movement of the skateboard; however, there is a need for a skateboard that can reduce contact with a skateboarding surface so as to reduce the friction between the skateboard and the skateboarding surface so as to increase the velocity of the skateboard.
Various patents have issued relating to skateboards with bearings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,265, issued on Apr. 25, 1995 to Douglass, discloses a skateboard that has ball rollers rotatably mounted within cavities formed in a bottom of a body of the skateboard. Ball bearings are mounted within the cavity so as to contact the roller ball and rotate as the roller ball rotates. Round islands, or mounts, are located adjacent to each roller ball. The round islands receive a side guide or a side plug that controls the pitching and steering of the body of the skateboard. A glide plate is provided over the cavities at the bottom of the body for providing a sliding surface. Air passages are formed in the body and extend from the front end and from the back end toward the middle of the skateboard. The air passages are communicative with the cavities so as to allow air to cool the ball bearings located within the cavities. Circular cover plates are connected to the body over the glide plate, the mounts, and the roller ball. Each roller ball partially extends through the cover plate so that the side guide and the side plug protrude therein. A conical cleaner is provided adjacent each roller ball for contacting the roller ball in order to clean debris from the roller ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,320, issued on Mar. 21, 1967 to Hanna, discloses a skateboard that has a platform member, outer casters attached to the underside of the platform member, and a center caster attached to the underside of the platform member. The outer casters are disposed at the apexes of an equilateral triangle configuration of the underside of the platform member. The center caster is located centrally of the triangular arrangement of the outer casters. The center caster extends a distance from the platform member greater than a distance of the outer casters from the platform member.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,951, issued on Aug. 4, 1970 to Tyson, discloses a roller ski for use on a reasonably smooth slope in the absence of snow that has a ski member with an upper surface, a lower sliding surface, an inner edge, and an outer edge. The upper surface has bindings for attachment to a foot. Ball-type rollers are rotatably affixed to the outer portion of the roller surface. Skate wheels are affixed to the lower surface of the ski member adjacent the inner edge thereof. The skate wheels are disposed in longitudinal alignment. The axis of rotation of the skate wheels is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the ski member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,735, issued on Apr. 17, 1979 to Blackburn et al., discloses a skateboard pivot-roller assembly that has amounting bracket formed with a generally flat upwardly facing mounting surface for mating with the flat underside of the skateboard platform. The skateboard pivot roller assembly is formed in one extremity with a roller housing. The housing has a downwardly opening ball socket having a rotatable ball mounted therein and projecting downwardly therefrom so that a lower spherical surface is spaced above the plane of the bottom of the skateboard wheels. A skateboard rider can shift a weight to the end of the skateboard so as to tilt the skateboard and engage the pivot ball with the ground. Engaging the pivot ball with the ground enables pivoting and maneuvering of the rider with at least a portion of the weight carried on the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,454, issued on May 4, 1993 to Blankenburg et al., discloses an in-line roller skate that has a frame with a pair of parallel, spaced side rails. Ball rollers are mounted in the frame between the forward and rearward ends of the frame. Each ball roller is mounted to the frame for unidirectional movement by a base attached to the frame. A concave bed is formed in the base and is substantially covered by rotatable bearings. A cap with a central aperture in an end wall is secured to the base and encloses the bearings and the ball roller. A portion of the ball roller extends through the central aperture in the cap.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,454, issued on Apr. 23, 1968 to Woodman, discloses a device that has a support, a ball, and a mechanism holding the ball in the support. A ball-forming mechanism guides the support during motion thereof relative to the supporting surface in any direction. The ball-forming mechanism provides for instantaneous changes of direction of the ball. The mechanism for holding the ball provides for free-rolling action of the ball in any direction relative to the support. Bearings are located in the ball-holding mechanism. The ball-holding mechanism forms an enclosure for a portion of the ball. The bearing has an annular member extending adjacent the ball. A brake is attached to the support and adapted so as to engage the ball within the annular member.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,597, issued on Jul. 22, 1975 to Olvesky, discloses a wind operated amphibious vehicle that has a frame, a sail, and three wheels that are buoyant enough to support the vehicle in water. Brake and steering devices act on the two back wheels. The frame has cavities formed therein. The cavities receive the ball wheels. Each of the cavities has ball bearings between the cavity and the ball wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,691, issued on Oct. 6, 1992 to Moscarello, discloses an apparatus designed to allow the user to simulate the action of a snowboard during dryland training. The apparatus has a cylindrical roller that has tapered or angled surface at the outer portions of the roller. The tapered sections may have slots cut into them which would allow for a stepping effect from one tapered surface to the other. Spacers are attached to the lower surface of the receiving board. The spacers provide stability to the apparatus. The receiving board attaches to the lower surface of the upper deck by using vertical lifts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,874, issued on Sep. 10, 1996 to Shouten et al., discloses a roller board apparatus that has an elongated user support platform, and front and rear axles mounted transversely across one side of the platform adjacent the front and rear ends of the platform. The curve axles curve symmetrically outwardly away from the platform surface to which they are attached. The curve axles include wheels rotatably mounted therealong. Spacers are positioned between each end of the curve axles in the platform.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,956, issued on Oct. 22, 1996 to Wang, discloses an in-line skateboard that has a toe-abutment wall for preventing forward movement of the rider's shoes, and a heel support that supports the shoe heels at an elevation substantially above the surface of the board. In-line wheels can be replaced with a single skate blade for using the skateboard on ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,900, issued on Jun. 11, 2002 to Masciarelli, Jr., discloses a unidirectional rotating support assembly that has a support member, a rotating member, and a support mechanism that rotatably supports the unidirectional rotating member with respect to the support member. The support member is configured or arranged so that a portion thereof is received in the aperture in such a fashion that the support member has limited ability to move with respect to the work station surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,249, issued on Jul. 16, 2002 to Chen, discloses a roller board that has a base plate with a cam-retaining bore and an accommodating chamber. A roller unit has a caster mounted rotatably to the base plate underneath the retaining bore. A roller is journalled to the caster. A cam extends into the chamber via the retaining bore in the base plate. The cam has diametrically opposite lowermost points and diametrically opposite uppermost points between the lowermost points. A cam follower is disposed within the chamber. The cam follower includes an urging spring that has a first end fixed to the base plate and a second end disposed above, and abutting against, the cam face so as to urge the cam in an axial direction relative to the cam.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,558, issued on Aug. 20, 2002 to Osawa, discloses a roller ski board that has a board body that bends elasticity, a single roller at its central portion. Smaller twin rollers are positioned at the front and rear edge portions. The rollers are pivoted rotatively on an under surface of the board body along its longitudinal axis. The rollers are lubricated and wear-resistant. The roller has an elasticity that allows them to absorb the vibrations and shock added to the board from contacting a surface, such as the ground. The rollers are arranged such that the external side periphery of each of the rollers is gradually wider from the central portion to the front and rear edges so that the periphery of each roller do not protrude over the contour curvature of the board body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,776, issued on Mar. 2, 2004 to Todd, discloses a skateboard that has a support platform, and wheels mounted to the support platform. The wheels have successively decreasing diameters. The wheels are mounted on a common axle. The wheels are formed of a material of successively greater frictional and compressibility characteristics.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a skateboard that is omnidirectional.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a skateboard that reduces the area of contact between the skateboard and the skateboarding surface.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce friction between the skateboard and the skateboarding surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide better stability than other skateboards that utilize ball bearings.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a skateboard that can support large weights.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a skateboard that has a brake that allows the rider to slow or stop the skateboard.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a skateboard that increases maneuverability.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.